IRB approval for the Cabaniss usability study was obtained in May 2010.

Advertising began on August 6 and ran through August 30, 2010. Ads were placed on the University Libraries main web page, as well as on the student information portal called MyBama and on the Digital Collections web page. In addition, information was emailed to the History, American Studies, and Political Science Departments. These departments forwarded the information to their graduate students and faculty members. Fliers were also displayed in the reading room, and those work work at the reference desk were told about the study and were asked to encourage patrons to take a flier.

Response to the advertising was fairly positive. We received more volunteers than we needed, but all volunteers were contacted and invited to come and participate in the study, in hopes that enough volunteers would participate to reach our goal of 20 participants. We recruited nearly 30 volunteers before taking down the ads. If we are unable to get 20 of those volunteers to participate, we may need to recruit a second round of participants.